CAREers in FOCUS
MOMS in Family Medicine Navigating a Fulfilling Career and Family: Part II By: Perry Price Manager of Workforce Initiatives
This article follows Part 1 of our Moms in Family Medicine series from the November 2022 issue. The first part explored some of the challenges that our member sources faced, while this part includes their advice for navigating those challenges, whom they look to for guidance, and how being a mom has shaped them into the successful family physicians they are today!
Who did you look to for advice and guidance when navigating the stages of motherhood in medicine? Whom do you look to today? Jessica Triche, MD: My residency classmates. Four of us had kids. We leaned on each other. My youngest had neonatal jaundice. My classmate helped me not panic (it was during Christmas holiday and the clinic was closed) and even came over to reassure me. Later, as my kids aged and I became involved in leadership, I talked to Shannon Dowler. She had two boys as well, and her kids are amazing. She told me I could be a great mom and a great leader. Vickie Fowler, MD: I looked to my female friends,
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colleagues, and mentors. I recall during a particularly challenging time with my teenage daughter that Dr. Sue Slatkoff gave me guidance and support to feel empowered to ask for time to be present for my teenage daughter, just as I had needed to feel empowered to be home with my younger children. Kelley Lawrence, MD: Good question. I don’t think there was one person, so I will name a few that were impactful for each of my pregnancies — some female and having traveled the same physiologic paths before me, some male and having an understanding and empathy that was profound: my mom (Jean Vance, who was a full-time teacher and mother), Dr. Teresa Terezis, Dr. Amy Weil, Dr. Charlie Baker, Amelia Henning, CNM, Dr. Wendy Barr, Dr. Kay Nordling, Dr. Mark Higdon, Dr. Jennifer Higdon, Dr. Heather Doty, and Lauren Penwell-Waines, PhD. Jackée Clement, MD: I was fortunate to have a faculty team leader and mentor in Dr. Kelley Lawrence. She was such an advocate for me to do what was best for my family while maintaining a career in family medicine. I appreciated hearing her stories of having children in residency. In addition, she is a lactation specialist. I definitely used my phone-a-friend privileges often in that department. Liz Baltaro, MD: I absorbed narratives from physician
The North Carolina Family Physician